The co-production of historical knowledge: implications for the history of identities

This essay argues that understanding people’s lives, emotions and intellectual reasoning is crucial to exploring national identity and that ‘the co-production of historical knowledge’ provides an approach or methodology that allows for a deeper comprehension of people’s self-identities by encouraging a diverse range of people to participate in the research process. We argue that many academic historians have maintained an intellectual detachment between university history and public and community history, to the detriment of furthering historical knowledge. We argue for a blurring of the boundaries between university and communities in exploring modern British history, and especially the history of national identities. It includes extracts of writing from community partners and a brief photographic essay of projects related to exploring identities

Death for Dishonor in Danville: An Examination of the 1880 Honor Killing of Mary Dejarnette

On July 10, 1880, Thomas Dejarnette shot his sister Mary Dejarnette in the brothel she was working in, known as the Blonde Hall, in Danville Virginia. Thomas declared that he had shot his sister with the intent of avenging his family's honor, which she had tainted by becoming a prostitute. During the eight days between the shooting and her death, newspapers reported that Mary made remarks wishing no punishment be given to her brother as he had done his duty and done what was right. Upon her death, Thomas faced multiple trials, which eventually resulted in his acquittal based on an insanity defense in 1881. Further, the New York Times reported that the verdict met with the approval of the community, as evidenced by applause in the courtroom following the acquittal announcement. This case raises many questions that relate to the history of prostitution, Southern culture, and honor killings. Through analysis of primary sources such as newspapers, census reports, court testimony, and medical investigations, I create a microhistory of the crime and argue that the nineteenth-century Southern culture of honor and society's oppression of women created circumstances that led to the honor killing of Mary Dejarnette and the subsequent acquittal of her brother. It is my contention that understanding the cultural beliefs that led to Mary's death and Thomas' acquittal will raise awareness that honor killings are not strictly a foreign occurrence and have occurred in the historical record of the United States

Let’s change history! Community histories and the co-production of historical knowledge

Understanding people’s lives, emotions and intellectual reasoning is crucial to exploring the history of communities and identities. ‘The co-production of historical knowledge’ provides an approach or methodology that allows for a deeper comprehension of people’s self and community identities by encouraging a diverse range of people to participate in the research process to uncover the complexities and nuances of historical experience. Yet as Steven High has argued, ‘there has been remarkably little discussion of the public’s place in the research process: how, when, and if authority should be shared between university based researchers and community members.’ This chapter argues that ‘sharing authority’ needs to be expanded beyond oral history, in which participants contribute to the creation of primary sources, to a sustained and collaborative effort to develop new ways of knowing about the past by drawing on perspectives outside of universities to produce new knowledge. A blurring of the boundaries between academic historians and communities in exploring history enables multiple voices to be heard in the historiographical record

How can historical knowledge help us to make sense of communities like Rotherham?

We hope that the historical chapters in the book raise some questions for readers to consider. We suggest the notion of ‘organic intellectuals’ is used from Antonio Gramsci to think about how communities contain organic historians – people who are interested in the past as a tool to change the future. Gramsci was a socialist imprisoned in Fascist Italy in the 1930s. He suggested that ‘traditional intellectuals’ were the philosophers, artists and historians who perform a specific intellectual function which emphasises continuity in society to manufacture consent for existing social relations. We think that the co-production of research (and the development of new digital media) presents a challenge

Who are we now? Local history, industrial decline and ethnic diversity

In this chapter, we challenge what might be called a ‘local history paradigm’, whereby immigration to Britain and the decline of industry are linked and local history is considered to ‘end’ in the 1980s. We explore representations of past and present in Rotherham, and draw on examples of heritage projects undertaken there by people from minority ethnic communities. We consider ways in which these projects add to the local history narrative of the town